Sectional contacting tray



June 19, 1962 R. VERSLUIS ,7

SECTIONAL CONTACTING TRAY Filed March 18. 1958 FIG. 2

INVENTORZ ROELAND VERSLUIS HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,039,751SECTIONAL CONTACTING TRAY Roeland Versluis, The Hague, Netherlands,assignor to Shell Oil Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 18,1958, Ser. No. 722,191 Claims priority, application Netherlands Mar. 22,1957 7 Claims. (Cl. 261-114) The invention relates to contactingcolumns, such as are used to contact fluids, e.g., to effect an exchangebetween liquid and gas in fractional distillation or absorption, toeffect heat exchange, or to scrub gas, etc., and is, more particularly,concerned with a sectional tray which can be mounted transversely with acolumn, the tray having openings of any desired type or shape for thepassage of fluid to be contacted, such as holes surmounted with bubblecaps, open dots with vertical or inclined side walls, or the like.

It is known to form contacting trays of sections which are mounted inlaterally adjoining relation and are sustained in part by a supportingring secured to the column wall and in part on one or more cross-beamscarried by the ring. Difliculties have heretofore been encountered inproviding a simple and efiective seal between the adjoining traysections, such as is often required to prevent undesired or uncontrolledflow of gas or liquid through the tray. While effective seals have beenprovided these often were expensive to construct and/ or time-consumingin the installation and dismantling of the tray.

The principal object of the invention is so to improve the constructionof the sectional tray that the tray sections can be connected to oneanother in a simple manner and With little efiort and skill to attain agasand liquid-tight seal between adjacent tray sections.

A further object is to provide a simple seal between the tray sectionsand the supporting ring and beams.

In summary, the contacting tray sections of the invention include deckscontaining openings therethrough for the passage of the fluid to becontacted and dependent flanges that extend along the margins of thedecks and are approximately L-shaped in cross section, so as to providelateral sealing rims at levels below those of the decks. The severaltray sections are assembled side by side with the sealing rims ofadjacent sections in superposed relation, packing material is interposedbetween the superposed sealing rims, and the rims are clamped togetherby any suitable means to press the rims against the packing.

In a preferred construction the sealing rims have upwardly directedflanges at their free edges to stiffen the rims longitudinally and soenable them to compress the packing material throughout an extended spanbetween clamping elements, thereby to reduce the number of clampingelements required. The flanges further insure that the sealing rimsretain their correct shapes during handling, which is necessary toprovide a tight seal.

It is preferred to use as the clamping means bolts which extendcontinuously through the packing material and through vertically alignedholes in the two superposed sealing rims and in the deck above them.Further, according to a feature of the invention a compression member,such as a bushing, is secured between the upper sealing rim and itsassociated deck at the said holes so as to transmit the thrust to therim when the bolt is tightened.

The invention will be further described with reference to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and showingone preferred embodiment, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a tray made up of deck sections;

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FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary transverse section taken on theline 2--2 of FlGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a further enlarged, fragmentary transverse section taken onthe line 33 of FIGURE 1, showing a detail;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a pair of adjoining traysections and their connection to a beam;

FiGURE 5 is fragmentary perspective view similar to FIGURE 4 but showingonly one of the tray sections; and

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a pair of adjoining traysections and their connections to the supporting ring.

In the drawing, one tray is shown to be mounted in an upright column 5,it being understood that a plurality of such trays may be mountedtherein in vertically spaced relation. The column wall carries, for eachtray, a supporting ring 6 which sustains a plurality of crossbeams 7,which beams may be formed of pairs of structural channels placed back toback with their upper surfaces coplanar with the top of the ring 6.

The tray is composed .of a large number of individual tray sections 8,8a, 8b, 8c, disposed with their longitudinal or longer dimensionsextending transversely across the beams and mounted side by side. Theinterior sections 8 and 8a are identical in outline and span the spacebetween the beams; the section 8b adjoining the column wall also spansthe beams and has the same length as the sections 8 but is curved at theexterior margin; and the sections extend between one beam and thesupporting ring and are curved adjacent the column wall. These sectionsare made of sheet material, preferably thin metal plates which includeflat, horizontal decks 9 containing openings containing risers 19, whichrisers are surmounted with bubble caps 11 for the upward passage of 'gasor vapor. The tray sections have dependent flanges 12 or '13 along theiradjoining sides, thereby stiifening the sections against bending andfacilitating the use of thin metal plates.

According to the invention the flanges 12 and 13 have lateralsealingrims 14 and 15, respectively, which extend parallel to the deck, so thatthe flanges have approximately L-shaped cross sections. Each n'm 14 isturned inwardly, under the associated deck 9, and each rim 15 is turnedoutwardly from its associated deck and is positioned lower than the rims14. The rims 15 rest on the beams 7 and, in the case of marginalsections provided with these rims (e.g., the section 9 appearing in FIG-URES 3 and 6) on the ring 6. These sealing rims further have upstandingflanges 16 and 17, respectively, at their free edges to add rigiditythereto. A vertical bushing or tubular post 18 is fixed, e.g., bywelding, between each sealing rim 14 and its deck 9 at each point wherea bolt is to be attached. The bottom of the bushing abuts the top of rim14 surrounding a bolt hole therein and the top extends upward through aslightly larger hole in the deck to permit a bolt 19 to extendcontinuously through these parts and through the bushing, a registeringbolt hole being formed in the rim 15.

Various arrangements of the flanges 12 and 13 are possible, providedthat the sections are constructed so that at each longitudinal jointbetween sections there is one flange of each type. Thus, as is shown inFIGURE 2, the section 8 has a flange 12 at one side and a flange 13 atthe other, while the section 8a has two flanges 13 to facilitateassembly. It is evident that the section 9 of FIGURE 2 is placed on itssupport prior to emplacing the adjoining sections 8b and 8.

To seal the deck section against the cross-beams 7 and the supportingring 6, each marginal portion of a deck section which is to -lie abovesuch a supporting element is formed with a similar flange 20, having ahorizontal sealing rim 21 and, preferably, an upward flange 22, as isshown in FIGURES 4-6. These flanges are similarly provided with bushings18 and bolt holes.

In assembling the tray, the deck sections are positioned side by sidewith the flange 12 of one section nested within the flange 13 of theadjoining section and a strip of packing or sealing material 23 isplaced between each pair of sealing rims 14 and 15. A separate strip ofpacking material 24 is similarly placed between the end sealing rims 21and the supporting ring 6 or cross beams 7. The bolts 19 are passed downthrough the bushings 1 8 and through the packing strips 23 or 24 and aresecured to the cross-beams or supporting ring by threads in the latteror by nuts 25.

When the bolts are tightened the packing material 23 or 24 is compressedto form a gasand liquid-tight seal against the sealing rims 14, 15 and21. The bushings 18 are placed in compression by the bolts and transmitthe downward thrust of the upper ends of the bolts to the sealing rims14 and 21. Hence seals are formed between the rims 14 and 15 and nofluid can by-pass the tray between the sides of the adjacent traysections; similarly, seals are formed between the rims 21 and thesupporting rim or the cross beam and no fluid can pass about the ends ofthe tray sections.

'If desired a tray section may be omitted at one part of the column toprovide a large opening 26 at which a liquid downcomer (not shown) maybe connected.

The construction according to the invention has the advantage that thetray sections can be mounted in a simple and rapid manner, that they areof light but robust design, can be interconnected in a fluid-tightmanner without difliculty, and are easy to disassemble.

I claim:

1. In a contacting column containing a supporting cross beam, atransverse sectional contacting tray comprising a plurality of laterallyadjacent tray sections supported on the top of said beam, said sectionsincluding decks with openings for the passage of fluid to be contacted,each pair of adjacent tray sections having adjoining flanges whichextend downwardly from the adjacent margins of the respective decks andthence laterally to form substantially horizontal sealing rims at levelsspaced below the decks, the sealing rim on one of said superposed on theother sealing rim and extending inwardly under its deck section, ahorizontal layer of packing material interposed between said sealingrims, and means for clamping said sealing rims together against thepacking material.

2. A contacting tray according to claim 1 wherein said means forclamping the sealing rims includes a bolt extending through the packingmaterial and through three holes situated respectively in the twosealing rims and in the deck the sealing rim of which is higher than theother.

3. A contacting tra-y according to claim 2 including a compressionmember extending between the said superposed sealing rim and the saiddeck adjacent said holes.

4. A contacting tray according to claim '1 wherein said sealing rimshave upwardly directed flanges which are spaced laterally from saiddownwardly extending flanges.

5. A contacting tray according to claim 1 wherein the lower of saidsealing rims rests on the cross beam and said means for clamping thesealing rims includes a bolt engaged to the beam and extending upwardsthrough the packing material and through three holes, respectively inthe two sealing rims and in the deck of the sealing rim which is higherthan the other.

6. A tray section suitable for assembly with other section-s asspecified in claim 1, including a deck with openings for the passage offluid to be contacted, a flange at each side thereof extendingdownwardly from the deck and thence laterally to form a pair of sealingrims, said rims being substantially parallel to and in spaced relationto the deck and having bolt holes.

7. A tray section according to claim 6 wherein at least one of saidsealing rims extends inwardly under the deck, the deck having a bolthole above each bolt hole in the said one sealing rim, in combinationwith a compression member extending between said one sealing rim and thedeck adjacent said bolt holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,429,400 Bloedow et al Sept. 19, 1922 1,772,694 White Aug. 12, 19301,961,488 Hedgcock et al June 5, 1934 2,582,657 Serner Jan. 15, 19522,582,826 Glitsch Jan. 15, 1952 2,611,457 Glitsch Sept. 23, 1952

